As good as Ping-Yi is, I felt that Jin-Lian would be the true prize of the series. With high expectations comes the possibility of bitter disappointment, but I felt that SkyTube could pull it off, seeing as how they have become one of the preeminent figure manufacturers in the hobby. And pull it off they did; after seeing Jin-Lian with my own eyes, I can confidently say that this is one of the best anime figures ever made.
First, some background: this figure is the second of SkyTube’s Premium line to be released, and the second overall in this series; the third – Chun-Mei has not yet been released, and the preorder period for her just closed. There is an alternate version of Jin-Lian available, which has her dressed in a red and gold cheongsam; I think I like this version a little bit better, but they’re close to even in my eyes. Certainly I wouldn’t be unhappy if I could only pick the red version.
Jin-Lian is sculpted in 1/6 scale and stands a bit over 25 centimeters in height. She comes with an assortment of alternate parts and accessories, which we will examine in a moment. Her base is elaborate and quite large; normally I don’t pay much attention to bases but the patterning is impressive. However, as Ping-Yi’s base is about the same size, and being that she needs her base in order not to fall over, it’s difficult to display them close together.
Also, I had some difficulty placing Jin-Lian on her base – the design is one where you have to flex the figure’s legs slightly in order to get the feet slotted over the pegs, and it’s a bit difficult to get a good grasp on her ankles due to the ribbons placed there. These ribbons are very fragile and a good deal of care is warranted to avoid inadvertently snapping them off her legs.
Let’s just start with the overall look; what a fantastic job SkyTube did with this sculpt. Her body proportions are exquisite, with long legs, a large bust and more curves and arcs than trigonometry class. The slits of her dress show the broadness of her hips and the pronounced swell of her ass.
Tony sometimes gets railed by anime fans for using a recurring style for his characters’ faces. This consistency carries over to figures, of course, and sometimes it’s difficult not to feel indifferent to his lack of adventurism. Jin-Lian, though, has a lovely face, and though the obvious hallmarks of Tony’s style are there, I’m not sure if I’ve seen another Tony figure (and there are a lot of them out there) with this sort of expression. There are a lot of different emotions that can be read into her look, and I’ll leave it up to the viewer to come up with one’s own interpretation of what she’s feeling. Her eyes are a striking light blue color; the paleness of her eyes provides for a stark contrast to the intensity of her gaze.
There is an alternate face, which offers a less equivocal expression; here, Jin-Lian shows stark embarrassment and distress. There is good reason for her to be feeling that way.
Jin-Lian can be dressed in a relatively modest manner, though the back of her dress has a cutout right over her buttocks, which means that she is not quite a family-friendly figure. A small pair of panties is provided – it’s actually just a piece of plastic that goes between her legs and is held on by friction.
It can be omitted, revealing her bare backside and vagina, though then the ribbons and waistband running along her hips don’t make a lot of sense.
Alternatively, she can be displayed in a far more sexual form. A separate lower body piece is provided with gaping orifices that allow the insertion of these two included dildos, which are connected by a short length of chain.
How gaping are those orifices? This is how gaping.
This display mode is both lewd in the extreme and hilarious given the elegance of the rest of the figure. Figures have been getting more and more pornographic over the last few years but many companies – particularly mainstream ones – have shied away from depicting penetration, yet here is a very dignified and classy figure with objects inserted into both her vagina and anus. That SkyTube would make such an exquisite figure with such obscene elements is worthy of admiration.
While we’re on this subject, it might as well be mentioned that her breasts can be swapped out for one that shows her nipples. Her arms can also be detached, and alternate left and right arms are provided. One right arm is raised over her head in a stylish pose while the other is meant to cover her mouth; one left arm is meant to support her musical instrument, while the other is bent backwards, cradling her anal dildo.
Generally speaking, her two faces and sets of arms are meant to be used with either her more modest display mode or with her pornographic display option, but there’s nothing preventing you from mixing and matching. Personally, I kind of like this configuration best, with her stern face and no musical instrument.
And of course, with her dildos.
Like Ping-Yi, Jin-Lian is apparently a musician, though unlike her compatriot, it’s not an essential element for display. While Ping-Yi’s pose would look curiously awkward if you took away her zither, Jin-Lian’s alternate arms mean that her instrument – a pipa, from what I can tell – isn’t necessary. Indeed, it can’t be displayed if one uses her left arm that’s supporting her dildo, as her lute has nothing to keep it standing; it can only be kept upright by having the hand of her other left arm rest on its headstock. Note that that is not true of her sex toys; they will happily stay in place by themselves so if one wanted to display Jin-Lian with both the lute and while being penetrated, that’s certainly an option.
Jin-Lian is wearing a beautiful black cheongsam with a gold floral pattern. The lower part actually has a gradient that transitions from solid black to a translucent magenta color. I usually don’t like this sort of gimmick – particularly with hair, I am not a big fan of figures having translucent hair – but here it’s executed with skill and surprising subtlety.
We’ll conclude by noting that Jin-Lian has an interesting hairstyle; it may not be immediately obvious but her hair is actually tied up in a very long side ponytail, which ends in a corkscrew just above her knees.
In my view, Jin-Lian is one of the best figures ever made. Even if she lacked the more salacious elements present here, this would be a superb figure. With the more sexualized display options, this figure becomes transcendent. The sculpt is astonishingly sexy, the display options are varied, and the erotic theme is sublime. I know that I’m just repeating myself, but I’m still amazed by how well this figure turned out. I own over five hundred PVC figures and Jin-Lian may be the best of them all.
